The orange sign with white lettering attached to Charles Smith’s bicycle reads, "I’M RIDING TO FIGHT KIDS’ CANCER."
A noble ambition, a message so straightforward and meaningful that the Immanuel Lutheran School middle school teacher touched the young teens he teaches sufficiently to team up with him for the 2020 Great Cycle Challenge USA.
Smith is the captain of the school’s Cancer Warriors who signed up to ride from 50 miles to 2,500 for the charitable cause that logs the miles the entire month of September.
This is Smith’s third year entering the challenge but the first time with a group of students who joined up, as well. The challenge began in 2015, and riders in all 50 states have covered more than 18.8 million miles and raised $24.6 million for cancer research.
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A husky man who likes to ride, Smith said he was motivated to put in miles to get back in better shape after backing off from riding for a few years. For many people, just exercising for the sake of it without a goal can be a mental drain. Smith wanted a reason to go out and sweat when the flesh was weak.
"I researched the group," Smith said of the Great Cycle Challenge. "It’s a good cause."
There is no entry fee, and the group donates money raised to the Children’s Cancer Research Fund.
Cancer is an insidious disease that affects the young, the old and the middle-aged in so many different ways, but the most heartbreaking scenarios afflict little ones, from babies to toddlers, from elementary school students to teens, the youngsters robbed of the good times of childhood or of life itself.
The genial, soft-spoken Smith, 43, who has a dark beard, said the image of youngsters suffering hit home to him. He doesn’t view himself as a contender for an Olympic cycling berth or someone likely to race 3,000 miles across the country. But merely putting in miles — he expects to contribute 2,500 of them for the team — he figures he can do.
His first year in the challenge, all Smith did was ride the bike around the neighborhood. Then he expanded his routes to tooling around Seymour.
"Then I started getting into the county roads," he said.
Smith has become more adept at soliciting pledges, and combined with seven students, the Cancer Warriors’ goal is to make a $5,000 group donation.
His first year in the Great Cycle Challenge, Smith raised $1,200 for kids cancer research. This year, he is holding himself responsible for $2,500 of the Warriors’ $5,000 hoped-for total.
The Warriors’ bicycles are not Tour de France-caliber but the types of age- and size-appropriate wheels 11-to-14-year-olds might ride around their neighborhoods and mostly do with friends as they total challenge miles a few at a time.
Sadly, whether it is family or friend, these kids already know about the ravages of cancer. They are aware of someone who has battled the illness at some time.
"I want to raise money and help kids who have cancer," Kade Gillaspy said.
One rider said a distant relative had cancer and then said it was an aunt, someone who to honor with the ride.
Smith’s story of riding in the challenge brought out empathy in the youngsters. Most were bicycle riders already, some going out after school every day, some just going out periodically.
Some are only aiming to average 2 miles per day all month and some a little bit longer. There are no adventure riders in this bunch about to knock off a century ride in a day, 100 miles.
If the kids head out for as many as three miles at a time, on a trail or anywhere else, that’s a long way to go.
Rylan Adair only committed to going 40 miles for the challenge, but after he signed up, he had second thoughts.
"I probably should have made it more, like 100," he said. Just not at once.
Bryson Baker had a similar thought when he realized what a minimum ride would be for 30 days.
"I rode with friends over the summer a lot," he said. "I think it’s going to be 50 or 60 miles. It doesn’t seem scary. It’s only 2 miles a day."
Riding a bicycle 50 miles a month is not nearly as frightening as cancer, and to these students, 2 miles a day doesn’t seem like much at all to help others.